Waves’ Bass Fingers plugin turns your MIDI keyboard playing into authentic bass guitar parts

Many of us play our basslines on MIDI keyboards, but what we really want is for them to sound like they were recorded on a bass guitar. Hence, Bass Fingers, a new plugin instrument from Waves that’s designed to translate your keyboard bass grooves into authentic four-string performances.

Billed as “the most detailed and nuanced fingerstyle bass virtual instrument in existence,” Bass Fingers is designed to give you all the same mechanics, variations and dynamics that you get from a real bass guitar. You get an extensive range of articulation options, automatic string switching, a customisable keyswitch editor and built-in effects.

Behind all of this there’s a 15GB sample library. This was created by Or Lubianiker, a highly regarded bass player who’s worked with the likes of Marty Friedman, Gus G and Bumblefoot.

Offered in VST/AU/AAX formats for PC and Mac, Bass Fingers is available now for the introductory price of $49 (regular price $69). Find out more and download a demo on the Waves website.

Waves Bass Fingers features

  • The most nuanced fingerstyle bass sample library ever created
  • 8 velocity layers and 6 round robins for every sampled note
  • Full 5-string articulation: natural hammer-ons and pull-offs, release and decays, sampled slides, percussive playing & more
  • 21 interactive playing positions with an intelligent adaptive fretboard
  • Automatic string switching
  • Customizable Keyswitch Editor for modifiers and additional bass SFX samples
  • Built-in studio-quality effects
  • Plugin or standalone instrument
  • NKS-ready for NI Komplete Kontrol and Maschine
Ben Rogerson

I’m the Deputy Editor of MusicRadar, having worked on the site since its launch in 2007. I previously spent eight years working on our sister magazine, Computer Music. I’ve been playing the piano, gigging in bands and failing to finish tracks at home for more than 30 years, 24 of which I’ve also spent writing about music and the ever-changing technology used to make it.